


Crossing Lines

by Andrw_Jstn



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: All For The Game - Freeform, All the Foxes - Freeform, Andreil, Andreil will be a thing, F/M, M/M, just like, not yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 19:19:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11630181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andrw_Jstn/pseuds/Andrw_Jstn
Summary: This is about Katelyn and Aaron and follows the basic storyline from the books/extra content.Katelyn and Aaron aren't the perfect match. She has a lot to deal with, and he chooses to see her as the cliché cheerleader.She's not allowed to date Foxes and with everything going on in her family, she has other stuff to worry about.And even if she didn't, they couldn't have anything at all. Aaron and Andrew had a deal.





	1. Katelyn Lawton. Uttermost Idiot.

Katelyn left high school every bit the girl you'd expect her to be. As the homecoming queen, cheerleader, dating Chuck.

Summer was a harsh wake up. Chuck revealed that he'd rather go to the University of Denver than PSU and Katelyn thought that was enough of a reason to break up with him. It probably was. They'd only been a couple for half a year and on one side, she wasn't in for a long distance relationship, on the other side she couldn't believe he hadn't told her about considering Denver.

Homecoming queen… she hadn't cared too much about that. A plastic crown and friends who were mad at her. Dancing with a boy she had barely ever talked to and jealous stares by other girls. A title that had felt nice but was pretty worthless a week later.

Cheerleading. She could still have that, at least. PSU made her decide between the basketball and the Exy team, though. No football. What kind of American school even did that? She'd been a little annoyed with that at first. Why did a school support that bastard sport but not the ultimate national sport? Football made sense to her, at least. Exy? Something like lacrosse, she guessed.

But the cheerleaders were treated as athletes. That was nice, considering that she could spend time at university earlier. There were try outs, of course, but after almost ten years of experience in four teams, she didn't even doubt she'd be on the team. She was right. The captain, Saya, told her to move into the dorms the next week and Katelyn couldn't help smiling.

At least that would stay the same.

Something she missed already was her brother. While Jared would only live around thirty minutes off campus, she'd miss him lurking around in front of her school.

When their parents had gotten divorced, each of their children had dealt with it differently. Sara, their oldest sister, had seized the opportunity to move out. Katelyn, sixteen at that time, had chosen to stay with her father, while Jared, only fourteen, had chosen to stay with Janice. Their mother.

Katelyn cuddled her father when she had packed the last suitcase into her car.

"Take care of yourself," he whispered and she smiled and nodded.

"Always. You know me!"

She turned around and got into the car. "I love you," she yelled and started the car. Jared got inside next to her and bumped his head even while she reminded him to watch his head.

"You're an idiot," she mumbled with a laugh, and they started driving. He laughed and shrugged, fixing his seatbelt. "How was your week?" she asked, though she'd only seen him the day before yesterday.

Jared, however, had the unique ability to tell the longest of stories anyways. Talked about his best friend Marisol, about how he'd almost driven his bike into a car, how he found out their dog Rainbow had no problem with eating cat food, and a lot more. Katelyn listened to her brother and laughed a lot. He was such a baby. She couldn't imagine not being close to take care of him.

When they arrived at campus half an hour later, Katelyn had barely contributed ten percent to the conversation.

Jared helped her carry the suitcases into her room. It was the first floor of the athletes' tower and she couldn't help smiling. Her room. Hers and maybe three other girls', but hers nevertheless.

Moving in was nice, though her little idiot managed stubbing his toe twice and dropping a suitcase onto his foot in addition to that. This happened up to the point where she placed him on the bed she just decided was hers, and went looking for ice or something similar. She was one of the first girls to arrive, so she went up one floor. Neither the soccer nor the basketball guys were there, so Katelyn climbed the last set of stairs and knocked on a door with a sigh. Was no one there yet?

But a small blond boy opened the door and Katelyn was glad she hadn't run into one of the gigantic players. Those were always intimidating.

"You wouldn't happen to have some ice?" she asked with a weak smile and the guy nodded a little before closing the door and coming back a second later, with a cool pack.

"Thank you! I'm Katelyn, by the way," she introduced, but the guy just nodded and closed the door again, as if he wasn't in the mood for conversation or company.

Katelyn pressed her lips together and sighed softly. Okay…

She went down the stairs again and heard laughter from her room. That meant someone else would have arrived finally.

Katelyn entered her bedroom and saw a girl sitting next to Jared, chatting with him and laughing ever so often.

"Hey…" Katelyn said and suppressed biting her lip. She was always hesitant around new people, but Jared seemed to like the girl after what couldn't have been a lot more than two minutes.

"Hey there! So you're Katelyn I guess? I'm Megan," she exclaimed and greeted her with a hug. Katelyn exhaled relieved. They wouldn't have a hard time getting to know each other. "I'm a Sophomore this year. We're sharing the room with two Seniors, Riya and Theresa. You'll be introduced properly tomorrow, there's a little get together."

Katelyn smiled brightly and wasn't sure if she was smiling truthfully or if she was using her cheer smile, but she felt welcome. "Hey," she said again, a lot more confident this time.

Megan had beautiful brown curls and almost a head on her, but her smile was warm and honest.

Katelyn turned back to Jared, then, and provided him with the cool pack.

"You know, it doesn't hurt a lot. This isn't really necessary," he intervened, but Katelyn just laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Sure. Still, okay?"

She started unpacking her stuff slowly, and warmed up a lot when the seniors arrived. The girls were nice, not that she had expected anything else, but still. She could really see herself living in this room for the next four years! Katelyn had chosen to live at the athletes' tower, but she went for the usual four-year-study time.

It was around nine pm when she realised that Jared was still here. Not that she had ignored him, he'd spent most of the afternoon chatting, but still. He'd have to get home some way.

Katelyn but her lip and took out her phone, checking the trains. He'd need almost an hour back home, if he took the train that was leaving in two minutes… well…

"I'm driving you home. Don't want you around train stations this time of the day," she said, and when he opened his mouth to disagree, she simply shook her head with a smile and he remained silent.

Driving around with Jared at night was a lot more quiet, considering how cars and darkness always made him fall asleep against the window. There weren't words to express how much she loved her little brother.

Katelyn sighed when she pulled into the driveway of her mother's house. Sighed again when the door was opened by two people. Jared didn't like Janice's boyfriends, and the same was probably true for this one. Katelyn didn't even recognise him. That was probably the main reason Jared had always lurked around her school for the past years.

The stop of movement woke Jared next to her and he stretched a little. "We're there," he told her, and Katelyn laughed softly.

"Yeah," she mumbled, and got out of the car when Jared was by her side to hug her goodbye. She messed up his hair even further and smiled.

"See you soon," she said, and he smiled brightly.

"Promise?"

Katelyn giggled a little and nodded. "Promise. I need someone to test my pre-med-abilities on! Love you," she said, and Jared laughed softly.

"Love you too," he said, and pushed past Janice and the man.

Katelyn stood there and waited. She wouldn't go up these stairs. Her mother approached her with crossed arms and they looked at each other. It was a little painful, to see so much of herself in that face. Same greyish-blue eyes. Same curtain of blonde hair. Same frown omnipresent on the face. Same level of reservedness for the other person.

"I didn't think you'd come to say goodbye," Janice said, and Katelyn shrugged.

"I didn't," Katelyn answered and her mother sighed. Katelyn knew she wasn't being offensive but had crossed her arms in defense. She was trying, but Katelyn didn't want this.

Janice shook her head and looked away for a second, probably trying not to loose her temper the way she had, when Katelyn lived with her for half a year after the divorce. Katelyn swallowed back memories. It wasn't as bad as she was making it seem. Katelyn had told her mother about her opinion pretty clearly. She'd been insulting and rude and had probably deserved a slap. It hadn't happened more than five times total, but it was enough to take away the most of the respect she had for her mother.

"I think you should leave now," her boyfriend said and went down the stairs, wrapping an arm around her mother's waist and looking down at Katelyn, who couldn't suppress a bitter laugh.

"Believe me, I was about to," she said, and entered her car again.

"Katelyn," her mum tried, but he pulled out of the driveway and left without a word of goodbye. If it weren't for Jared, she wouldn't have spoken with her mother for a single time in the past three years.

The drive back was filled with loud music to drown the thoughts. The walk up the stairs with counting down from ten to zero. That was the time she allowed herself to be mad. Before entering her room, she took a deep breath and turned on her cheer smile. She wouldn't spend the first evening showing everyone how bad her mood was.

The room was crowded when she went inside and Katelyn was a little astonished by the amount of people. They were… ten? Fifteen? Wow…

Megan came out of their kitchen and smiled when she saw Katelyn. "Hey! We kinda decided to have a sideline get together tonight, thirty minutes ago. That's our team," she introduced, and Katelyn took it in. Counted. Twelve girls. It didn't take long to make out the seniors. Riya, Theresa and Saya stood in a small group. The other captain, Tina, spent time walking around and making sure the freshmen were okay. The freshmen weren't hard to make out because of their isolation and wary looks around. Katelyn said hello to them and found she liked the girls instantly. There were mainly names thrown around and she got an overview of her team.

Freshmen were herself, a very shy but extremely nice girl called Sabrina, Hannah and Vanessa.

Sophomores were Megan, Alessia, and Claire.

There were only two Juniors, Tina and Beth.

And the seniors.

Katelyn was sure she'd get along with all of them, but the usual thing happened. She sticked with her roommates for the whole evening, while the upperclassmen chatted about their holidays. It was two in the morning when the first of them started leaving and Katelyn was glad when she could finally fall into her bed. What a day…

 

The next morning was chill. No one bothered getting out of bed, all of them were a little slow to start the day. Katelyn went to take a shower, eventually, and had some food. She saw the blue cooling pack on her nightstand and checked the time. Close to noon. The boys would be up.

She checked her outfit and bit her lip for a second before changing out of pyjamas and into shorts and a top. Katelyn walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.

Of course she had known that there would be other people living here. That didn't prepare her for the huge guy that opened the door, though.

"Who are you looking for?" he asked and smiled brightly. His skin was a little darker and he looked really nice.

Katelyn cleared her throat and shrugged a little. "I wanted to give this back," she said and the young man smiled even more and nodded.

"Who's there?" someone asked from inside, and the person shrugged.

"A girl with a cooling pack. She's…" he started, but the guy from yesterday appeared behind the giant, who actually left.

Katelyn was a little confused when he looked at her with raised eyes.

"Thank you, by the way," she said and smiled a little. "I'm Katelyn. I'm new here and didn't consider my brother's incapability of… survival, basically. So you saved the day with this. Who are you, anyways?"

"Aaron," he said, unimpressed by her monologue, and held out his hand. Katelyn smiled, shaking it. From the look on his face, he hadn't intended this. Katelyn pulled her hand away and realised that he had reached for the cooling pack.

She suppressed a grimace and handed it over. "That was awkward. Sorry, I… uh… nice to meet you, Aaron! See you around, I guess," she mumbled and saw the corner of his mouth twitch. Was he smiling or laughing at her? Probably both.

Aaron closed the door and Katelyn let out a breath. God, why was she like this?

 


	2. Aaron Minyard. Pre med.

A few weeks had passed since they arrived at school. They had taken Matt, Dan and Renee to Columbia already, and Andrew had decided none of them was worth keeping, though he had some kind of meetings with Renee, apparently.

Nicky had given him a hard time because of that girl – Katelyn – for absolutely no reason at all. She hadn't bothered them again, so the teasing had stopped, eventually.

It was their first day of school… college. The thought was still weird. Even more because it was a step into the direction Aaron wanted to go in. First biochemistry. Take the MCAT in his last year. Apply to a med school.

Aaron hated that he went to PSU, of all schools. Not even PSU, if he was honest. That he was a Fox. That Wymack had considered him messed up enough to make him one. Aaron was no Fox and wouldn't ever be one. He was using this crappy opportunity to get closer to being a doctor, and for nothing else.

When Andrew had used their mother's life insurance up on a car, Aaron had put it into a bank account in hopes of actually being able to afford a medical school one day. It looked… not too bad, so far.

He went into the science building and looked around. His first class would start in around five minutes. Aaron sighed when he went inside the room and saw most seats taken already. He didn't want to sit so close to the lecturer, but the only seats available were in the third row. Oh man…

Aaron sat down and took out a few loose sheets of paper. He hadn't bothered taking a notebook.

The lesson started and everyone groaned when the woman in the front said that attendance would be ten percent of the final grade. Aaron didn't care too much. Skipping classes had other consequences for athletes and he wasn't willing to throw this away.

Half an hour later, the door opened and a girl stood there in a bright, red dress, makeup pretty nice and hair in big curls that must have taken ages to make. She had sunglasses, keeping her hair out of her face, and a coffee in one hand. All together, she looked like she'd spent too much time in front of the mirror to justify being late.

"Sorry," she mumbled and took the seat beside Aaron, with her shoulders pulled up and facing the ground.

It took him a moment to place her. She looked so familiar… Katelyn.

She pulled a laptop out of her purse and opened a word document, starting to take notes on what the woman in front of them said, which was weird, because she hadn't said anything regarding the topic, yet.

Katelyn realised that after a minute or two, and deleted the information she'd collected on how to format the papers they handed in or which books to buy when the woman told them she's mail the organisational information around.

The girl next to him leaned back in her chair and sighed softly, sipping her coffee. She looked at Aaron, then, and smiled when she caught his eye. Aaron raised an eyebrow and her smile became less confident.

"Hey, Aaron, I didn't see you here. You probably don't remember me. At least I'd hope so, it was rather awkward. Remember when I needed ice on the first day we were allowed to move in? That, uh, that was me. I'm Katelyn," she told him and Aaron shook his head a little. She spoke so fast and stumbled over her own words for a second. It was almost funny, but he didn't want her to think he was making fun of her, so he tried keeping a reaction from showing on his face.

"Hello," he answered and she stretched out her arm. Aaron shook her hand voluntarily this time, and Katelyn smiled brighter.

"So, you play Exy, right? That means your first game is this Friday, isn't it? I think it is. I can't wait for it. I mean, it's the first time I cheer on a college team. How miraculous is that, huh?" she asked and something about her smile seemed off. Whatever. She was talking way too much. Again.

Then again, what else was he supposed to expect? A Cheerleader. That meant loud and a little stupid, probably. Low self esteem, mainly bases her opinion of herself on the feedback others give her on her body. Also meant she was probably keen on starting something with an Exy player. He hated that she considered him one of them. Hated that basically everyone looked at him and saw a shattered boy on his way to drag the broken team down even further.

Aaron sighed and was sick of her already.

"It's on Friday," he answered and looked away again.

Katelyn next to him sighed and nodded. He looked back at her with a frown and she was chewing on her lipstick while playing with her fingers. She stopped instantly when she realised he was looking at her.

"Sorry for bothering you. It's just that I don't know anyone at this school and… sorry, I'm whining. My best friend always tells me when I'm whining, which is at least once in every conversation, so if that's… I'm doing it again," she said and took a deep breath, while rolling her eyes, obviously annoyed with herself. Aaron felt close to smiling. She was like a female version of Nicky, just that she realised when you wanted her to shut up.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a few seconds and Katelyn shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. Can I just… I'm complaining now, say stop when you're sick of it," she warned, before checking the front of the room again. Their lecturer was still talking about insignificant stuff, so she went on in a low voice. "So I got up early today, and what happens? The electricity in our room doesn't work. That means none of us can do anything in our room, so we go bothering the others, but like, that was fine. I did my hair and makeup and everything was great. I was right on time." She started, but her voice was so annoyed Aaron couldn't help listening with a small smile.

"So I leave the room, get my stuff, and I'm ready to change into my first-day-of-school-outfit, when I see one of my roommates leaving the building in exactly that stuff! So I'm standing there, makeup on point for the purple blouse, and I have to go for red instead. So just imagine me, changing into red stuff, practically leaning out of the window to put on other lipstick because by then, everyone left, and the light in our room was terrible AND the electricity didn't work. So then I want to leave, bump my head into that stupid window, stumble back and fall into the closet. The door is laying on the floor now. And I was late anyways, so when I was hurting in addition to that, I decided to just go and grab a coffee. Instead of telling me ' _we're cleaning the machine, its gonna take ages_ ' they take my money and make me wait fifteen minutes for a stupid cappuccino!"

Aaron thought this was rather funny. Her gestures, the mimic, the way she became louder and louder, checked the front of the room again, and became more silent just for her voice to raise a second later again. He liked people who could tell stories like this.

That didn't change anything about the Cheerleader-thing, though.

It changed even less about his and Andrew's deal, of course.

Katelyn ran a hand through her curls and shrugged. "So, that was my morning. What about yours?" she asked with a bright smile and Aaron shrugged.

"Nothing happened. All good," he said lowly and looked away again. He heard her sigh but didn't let himself be bothered this time.

Him and Andrew had a deal.

*

Aaron was sitting on the sofa with Nicky, playing video games. His cousin was winning, which wasn't too bad. Aaron didn't care after the long day and pile of homework he'd started working on this afternoon. He just wanted to relax with Nicky.

Training had been a little tough, with the others so gone by drugs they could barely play anymore. The worst part was that Aaron understood. Stressful day, getting up early, teachers being strikt even though they had literally started school an hour ago. That made you want to take the edge off.

Aaron was glad when there was a knock on the door. Stupid thoughts were meant to be interrupted. Nicky paused the game and opened the door. He laughed cheerfully at whoever was there.

"Aaron, I think it's for you," he said and chuckled again. "You could do better, love. Seriously, on a scale from a monkey to Kevin Day, he's a Gorilla Hawking on a good day," Nicky explained and turned around and Aaron sighed and rolled his eyes. What an idiot!

He got up and saw Katelyn as soon as Nicky had taken a step to the side. Aaron looked around and exhaled softly when he realised that Andrew wasn't there. He didn't want his twin to think he was breaking the deal.

Aaron closed the distance between them and shut the door behind him so she wouldn't get any ideas.

"Hey, I hope I'm not bothering you, but… you're busy, I'm just gonna… I don't even know why I'm here," she mumbled, chewing on her lip again before sighing softly and shaking her head.

Aaron raised an eyebrow. Why was she like this? Then again, hadn't he seen that coming? Cheerleader, he reminded himself, not the brightest candle in the chandelier. "What's the matter?" he asked with a soft sigh and Katelyn looked up again, smiling uncertainly.

"I told you about my morning, right? The closet I stumbled into?" she asked and only went on when Aaron nodded. "So… my roommates want me to take care of that. Don't get me wrong, I totally intend to do that, but… I have absolutely no clue what to do."

Aaron looked at her and crossed his arms, waiting for her to go on. Of course he knew what she wanted him to do, but she could at least ask him properly. "And?"

Katelyn took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, messing up the curls she'd put so much effort in. "Do you think you might have a minute to help me with that? Or tell me who to ask for help, maybe?"

Aaron sighed again and shrugged a little. "What's the matter? Did something break or can we fix it with a screwdriver?" he asked, and Katelyn looked at him from big eyes when she shrugged. Aaron rolled his eyes and went down the stairs. He couldn't believe he was doing this.

Katelyn was right on his heels and told him which room was hers. He entered it with Katelyn by his side and ignored the girls on the sofa, raising their eyebrows at him or smirking at Katelyn.

He sighed and went into the bedroom. All the rooms had the same layout, so he found his way around pretty quickly. Aaron almost turned right back around when he saw the door of one of the closets laying on the ground right before it. They hadn't even bothered looking at the damage.

He looked at the door and inspected the door hinge. It was a little loose but still there. The screws were just so rusty and old already, that they hadn't needed a whole lot of force to be kicked out of the ancient wood of the closet.

"It's no big deal," he assured Katelyn, who was back to biting on her lip. God, what was she even trying to do? If she thought that was good looking, she was wrong. It made her look like an insecure child. "Do you have a screwdriver?" Aaron asked, then, and Katelyn nodded, smiling again, and taking a few ones out of her nightstand.

"My father said a few tools were useful to keep around in case of an emergency of any kind. Like, if someone's breaking in, these make good weapons, if you need to repair something, they help. If you run out of…," she looked up at Aaron who looked at her with a raised eyebrow and took the screwdriver he figured would fit best from her hand. "I'm always talking too much. Sorry, really, you can just tell me to shut up when you're tired of it," she offered and Aaron sighed heavily.

He was tired of her constantly apologising for obviously being herself. Aaron fixed the door in silence and tested the stability by opening and closing it three or four times.

"This should work just fine," he said, and Katelyn looked a little defeated.

"Thank you," she basically mumbled and crossed her arms in front of her chest as if she was cold. Aaron sighed. She was just a girl. He shouldn't care one last bit about her being oversensitive.

"No problem. You can come back up if you need help fixing anything," he offered, and feared it was too much already, by the way she smiled. Aaron sighed and turned around, leaving the bedroom just when a small girl with long hair came in, looking a little older than Katelyn. Aaron didn't recognise the co-captain of the squad, but he didn't care that she was there until she raised an eyebrow at Katelyn and crossed her arms in a challenging way.

"Didn't we establish just yesterday that the Exy players were off-limits?" she asked, and Aaron rolled his eyes. He wasn't in for that shit, so he went back up and resumed the game with Nicky.

*

Aaron spent too much time on court, which was annoying. He wanted to get through with his homework. Not train for a sport he didn't want to play anyways.

The evenings with Nicky were nice, though. Aaron wouldn't ever acknowledge it, obviously, but he missed social connections. Not his high school friends, of course. Not his drug addict-teammates that were always high or suffering from withdrawal. Both states made Aaron think of his first months with Andrew. The weeks before and after his mother's death. It was sickening.

It was good that Nicky's sexuality was enough to keep those bastards away, though. Aaron might not approve of it, but the result was one he couldn't stay sane without.

It didn't keep their teammates off far enough to prevent fights, and Aaron was in the mood to pick every battle he came across. That only changed when he realised that Abby would always check on all of them if she suspected even the tiniest bruise. That made him pick fewer fights. He couldn't stand being with that woman, as little as he could stand being with that weird Dobson.

Katelyn was in literally every course he'd taken. The biochemical courses. The extra pre-med courses. She was at the stadium with her squad, she was at the library when he was studying. It was almost exhausting and he was a little suspicious after two weeks, but she seemed so genuinely surprised to run into him and blushed every time, he didn't think this was her doing.

After a month, her presence became a constant. After two months he was so used to her by his side, Aaron actually told people that the seat next to him was taken whenever she showed up late.

Katelyn was so cheerful at all times, it was a little exhausting. Aaron couldn't ignore her attempts to start a conversation for too long, because damn, that girl was persistent.

She was always smiling, but it always seemed a little weird. Not honest enough to be contagious.

One afternoon, they were at the library, working through an academic text together. She'd found a really good one, but it was German and the translation wasn't intelligible at all, so she came to Aaron for support, knowing he'd be able to help her. He had to look up many words, not being all too familiar with vocabulary in this area of medicine, but they made sense of the text together. Katelyn always switched between chewing on her lip and smiling a little too brightly.

That was until her phone buzzed and she took it out of her pocket. She snorted with laughter and Aaron almost lost it as well. The sound was so unexpected and sudden and her whole face was so happy and honestly cheerful and she started typing with the truest smile on her face. It was the brightest thing Aaron had seen in a long time.

Katelyn looked up from her phone and Aaron looked at her. Really looked at her. He'd never seen her dimples. Hadn't seen how her eyes seemed to light up while smiling, hadn't realised how she wrinkled her nose in the most positive way.

She caught his eyes and suppressed a second laugh. "My brother… see for yourself!"

Katelyn handed her phone over and Aaron saw a picture of a teenager with blood streaming down the left side of his face. There was a cut on his cheek and a big bruise on his chin. Aaron wondered how exactly she could laugh about this, when he saw the text "Babybro <3" had sent.

"Me: on bike. then: child on the street, didn't hurt child or cars. picked fight with house, though. wall won. #Survivor !!!!"

Aaron laughed a little when he read Katelyn's answer. "Idiot"

"Is he okay?" Aaron asked and Katelyn nodded.

"Yeah, he's just the clumsiest person that exists! His name is Jared. He's the best boy on the planet," Katelyn said and he felt like he saw her real smile for the first time. The adoration in her eyes was so honest, Aaron could barely keep a smile off his face.

He wasn't entirely sure what it was in particular, but Andrew was spending a lot of time with Renee lately. Aaron knew that it was a weak excuse, but that was all it needed for him to be more comfortable with whatever this was.

Quite honestly, nothing changed. Not much, at least. They still sat together. Aaron still didn't respond to her more-than-obvious attempts to flirt.

The most significant change was that Aaron allowed himself to smile more often, now. When Katelyn told him about her brother, when she searched the room for Aaron and met his eye for the first time and her face lit up as soon as she found him, when they were studying and she nibbled on her lip while deciding whether or not to highlight that particular information.

When he was playing video games with Nicky, when he was laying in bed, remembering something she'd said, when he was on court, playing, and seeing her for only a second, as she was turning around as soon as soon as his name was announced.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks Booksbreakhearts for discussing Aaron with me ❤️
> 
> And Thank you, AsfaHan for making this possible in the first place. Thanks for adopting all these babys and thanks for making sure Jared doesn't end up dead. You're amazing, Liebling


	3. Katelyn. True smiles.

Katelyn was confronted with her expression ever since she was a child. Then, she had been grumpy. Now, it was a resting bitch face. That had lead her to wearing her cheerleader-smile at all times. Whether she was uncomfortable or annoyed, Katelyn tried smiling. Whenever she was too insecure, it turned into the unsure biting of her lower lip. Sure, she tried smiling as soon as she realised that she wasn't, but it felt wrong.

In addition to that, the cheer-smile was the pretty one. Her honest smile made her grimace a little. Her eyes were too small on photographs and her cheeks too chubby. That's what Janice and her teammates had told her, at least.

And her laugh was an entirely different story. Sounded like a snort, horse, seagull, depending ob who's opinion you considered. So it was safest for her to just wear that picture perfect smile at all times, showing her teeth just a little, ready to have her picture taken at all times.

In class, she was concentrated on the topic most of the time, but the smile was almost burned into her face. She couldn't quite get rid of it. And whenever she caught Aaron looking at her for a split second, Katelyn tried. Really did. She gifted him with her brightest smile. The touchdown-smile. The homecoming-queen-smile. The 'darling, let's take a picture'-smile.

And that guy looked away.

She didn't know what it was about him. He barely ever talked to her for the first month. Katelyn tried, though. Made conversation, talked to him, came to him for help with texts she could have asked others about. She really tried.

The first time she saw Aaron smile was enough to make up for the failed attempts. When Jared had sent a text about how he practically drove his bike into a wall, Katelyn hadn't been able to suppress a laugh. Looking up had been almost painful, but she saw that smile. Saw the look in his eyes that ensured her he wasn't making fun but smiling with her.

That friendly and genuine look had been enough to give her the confidence to not turn away. To not drown her honest smile with the cheer-one. And when she showed him her phone and Aaron laughed, she felt like something shifted between them.

They never talked about it, but they met regularly. At least three afternoons a week were spent at the library. The meetings were innocent, with nothing happening but reading, sometimes a tiny bit of talking, mostly about college, though.

Katelyn sighed on a Thursday afternoon, around two and a half months into her Freshman year, looking at the pile of work she still had to do. She had at least two subjects every day, sometimes three, and training was becoming harder and harder.

At high school, they'd had a single team of cheerleaders. They had stunted and danced, and Katelyn had always considered herself pretty good at both. Being on an only-dance team changed that. She had a lot to learn and was struggling with the new style more than the other Freshmen. It was frustrating.

Aaron had finished his homework but was still at the library, reading some book next to her. He looked up when she buried her hands in her hair and laid her head down on the table, though.

"Hey?" he asked, and Katelyn closed her eyes for a second.

"It's unfair. Why are you done already?" she asked and groaned in a frustrated way.

"Because you have all the responsibilities of an athlete but chose not to go for five years, unlike me," he said and Katelyn sighed, sitting up again. She knew he was right, but she couldn't exactly change anything about it anymore.

"And that means what exactly? I can't just decide to drop two or three subjects," she mumbled and ran a hand through her hair.

Aaron shrugged at that. "Technically, you can. I mean, you have to explain it to your teachers in detail, but considering your situation, I doubt that will be a problem."

Katelyn looked at him and bit her lip. That meant she'd actually be able to make it. To do all the things she wanted to do. But she couldn't exactly afford additional costs of around 25,000 dollars. Her parents had put a lot of money into the bank for their children, but with three children, that meant none of them was allowed to stretch their 100,000 dollars, which was a ridiculously high number anyways.

She shook her head at the idea. "If I did that, I'd have to get a job and that would turn into the same exact situation I'm in at the moment," she mumbled and Aaron frowned.

"You pay for university? I thought all athletes got scholarships. I mean, I'm not saying Cheerleading qualifies as a proper sport, but…" he said and actually smiled. She knew that smile. Knew he wasn't being rude or trying to mock her but honest and she didn't have a problem with it.

"I think only the Exy team gets a full scholarship. The others get partial ones, but their opinion of the squads is the same as yours," she explained, and saw Aaron tense. Katelyn knew he hated being considered a Fox. "Hey, Aaron?"

He shook his head a little and brushed it off, but Katelyn knew he disliked it. She wanted to say something but Aaron didn't let her. "You're studying biochemistry. That's dominated by men, which means you can get a partial scholarship. You might get some additional discount because of the athlete-thing. And any kind of family problem or sickness or something pays off as well."

Katelyn looked at him from big eyes and raised her eyebrows. "You think that'd work?" she asked, and Aaron nodded.

"Go ask your Coach, maybe. Or a secretary. They'll be able to give better information, I guess," he said, and Katelyn nodded. It was worth a shot.

*

Lurking around after training felt weird. Katelyn was usually gone by minutes, but she wanted to get this over with. Her roommates got the hint when she wasn't in the lockers by the time they were changed and showered, so they left her behind.

"Hey, Vee?" she asked, and her coach smiled down at her. Katelyn didn't get how she could have such a warm smile when she screamed at them during training, probably scaring dogs away in a 100 mile radius.

"What is it?" she asked and sat down on a bench, probably sensing a longer conversation.

Katelyn took a deep breath and reminded herself to wear the smile. "Okay… so I'm going for a four-year-schedule at the moment, and I'd like to stretch that to five years because it's getting a little much. The problem is that I wouldn't exactly know how to pay for the fifth year and would love to leave school without having to pay back loans for both college and med school," she started, and Coach Vee smiled at her and nodded. Katelyn felt weird. Admitting that your parents couldn't pay more then 100,000 dollars per child wasn't exactly something to be ashamed of. Yet, admitting that you couldn't go on like this kind of was.

"So now you want a partial scholarship, I guess? Don't worry, Katelyn, there are at least two girls a year that go through the same. You could come to my office after classes tomorrow and we'll see what we can do. Don't worry, we'll make this work," Vee said, obviously happy about the length of their talk.

Katelyn exhaled and couldn't believe this was all it took. The courage to ask for the things you wanted.

*

First off, she would have been late without the coffee. Katelyn didn't hear her alarm clock and she was the only one who had to get up this early, so she woke up around the time the lesson started and ran.

Still, showing up to class with a coffee-to-go never looked good.

She sat down next to Aaron and smiled at him. "Morning," she chimed in a whisper and Aaron shook his head a little.

"You're doing it again," he said, and Katelyn frowned before sipping her coffee.

"Doing what?"

Aaron gestured at her face with his hand. "The weird smile. You're tired and late, you're entitled to look like a real person," he said, and Katelyn's shoulders fell. She wore the cheer smile to not look too bitchy.

"No need to spread the bad mood," she mumbled. Why couldn't she ever do something right? When Aaron saw right through that smile, how did anyone believe her?

Aaron looked at her for a long moment before resuming to listen to their lecturer and taking notes. Katelyn let out a small breath and tried catching up on the topic.

Her and Aaron had a free period before their next class, and went to the library after this one. Almost thirty minutes into the period, Aaron reminded her of something she'd totally forgotten in the hurry.

"You brought the book for Chemistry, right?" he asked, and Katelyn closed her eyes before sighing.

"I'll get it. You can stay here, yeah?" Aaron just shrugged and nodded.

Katelyn knew she was gonna be late, so she didn't bother running. Aaron and her had that deal where only one of them brought the book for a class so they wouldn't end up carrying too much. It had been Aaron's suggestion after he'd seen her with five books on a day he only had one class while she had three. Some subjects required an abundance of books and Katelyn thought she was gonna die.

The only problem was that Katelyn wasn't exactly someone you could call a morning person, and because she wasn't organised enough to pack her bag in the evening either, Katelyn ended up running up to the Fox Tower at least twice a week.

Katelyn checked her phone on the way back. Class would start in five minutes, which meant she might actually be on time if she hurried. She decided against running, stopping at the café instead and ordering two coffees, this time. Getting to class ten minutes after it started wasn't too bad, since the teachers were used to her poor time management by now.

Katelyn couldn't help smiling when she sat down next to Aaron in the back of the room. She put one of the cups in front of him and took the book out of her bag, laying it down between them.

Aaron frowned at the cup and looked at her. "What's that?"

Katelyn smiled pretty honestly and shrugged. "Toffee Nut Latte with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles," she said and Aaron seemed undecided whether to be annoyed or amused.

"You know I didn't mean that. Why did you buy two?" he asked, and Katelyn laughed softly.

"For you. Figured I shouldn't be selfish and get you one as well," she said and shrugged innocently while Aaron sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said and took out his wallet. "How much was that?"

Katelyn smiled at him and couldn't believe he did that. Aaron was extremely cute when he let himself be.

"I'm proposing a deal, okay? We'll just let this slide if you take me out for dinner tonight," she said and smiled up at him. Aaron rolled his eyes a little and sighed deeply. She hoped he wouldn't brush over this. Katelyn was flirting with Aaron most of the time, but he never responded to any of that. This was the first time she put him into the position to openly accept the offer or decline.

Katelyn bit her lip when Aaron turned back to their lecturer and took notes. She looked at him for a long moment and suppressed a sigh. So that was a no, then.

Her shoulders sunk when Aaron left the room way too quickly after the lesson. She had another lesson, anyways, but this wasn't how it usually went, even when he could go right back home.

Katelyn packed her stuff and threw the cup she'd brought for Aaron into a trashcan, even though he hadn't even touched it.

It was weird, being this hurt after nothing had actually happened, but Katelyn had thought Aaron had changed a little. She actually had the feeling that Aaron was warming up around her.

She went on with her day, taking the class and then going to Coach Vee's office. Their conversation lasted for a really long time and Vee took a lot of notes, nodding and asking questions.

In the end, she scanned everything and smiled at Katelyn a little. "I'll have a talk with the responsible people and tell you how much of a discount you'll get. I'm guessing at least twenty percent, so don't worry," she said and Katelyn exhaled deeply. Thank God, really. She wouldn't have been able to add a year otherwise, but this was amazing already.

She left the office a few minute later and was really glad to finally lie down in bed when she entered her room at the Fox Tower. Katelyn's roommates were in the living room, but she couldn't make herself socialise. She was tired, Aaron was obviously annoyed by her attempts to flirt, her day had been long and her roommates were loud.

Some way, she still managed to get some sleep in. Katelyn couldn't really afford it, considering the mountain of homework waiting for her, but she needed it.

She woke up to Megan shaking her shoulders violently. Katelyn grimaced and pushed her arms away, being quite close to yelling at her. She sighed softly and reminded herself to be nice, though. No screaming.

Katelyn put on her cheer smile and sat up.

"What's up?" she asked, brushing through her hair with her fingers.

"Guy at the door for you! Let me just…" Megan mumbled and swiped her fingers under Katelyn's eyes, apparently talking care of smudged eyeliner and mascara. She giggled and nodded, and Katelyn sighed but tried not being too annoyed. Megan was trying to be helpful.

She got up and went to the door, ignoring the annoyed glances the Seniors sent her. Katelyn wasn't in the mood for this.

It was quite obvious, since nobody else would have made the girls react that way, but someway, Katelyn managed to be surprised to see Aaron. He stood there with his arms crossed and looked into her room with an annoyed expression, obviously not pleased by the way her teammates reacted. There was a paper bag on the floor next to his feet.

"Hey," Katelyn mumbled and ran a hand through her hair again, trying to not look as of she'd just been asleep. She smiled at him, playing over her insecurity. He'd made it pretty clear that he was annoyed by her, so what was he doing here?

"Hey. Get that look of your face, seriously, that's scary. We're leaving as soon as you're ready, but I need the keys to your car," he said, and Katelyn couldn't even worry about his harsh tone. Her smile lit up and she bit her lip, trying to hide the excitement.

"You're a terrible person," she said with a laugh and turned around, squealing a little when she closed the door behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> So… that's the start, I suppose…
> 
> What do you think about it?


End file.
